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This is my new tutorial workflow for PixInsight. The tutorial goes through my entire LRGB workflow including making a HDR composite (also in PixInsight), starting from the raw calibrated monochrome images to the end result with absolutely everything in-between. There are 95 screenshots in total so everything is extensively documented.

Even if you are not looking to make a HDR image or use Hydrogen-Alpha data in the Luminance channel (for HaRGB as I make in the tutorial), the tutorial is still extremely applicable as the HDR step can be easily skipped and your Luminance data is of no consequence to the post-processing I go through. The workflow is therefore a general LRGB workflow tutorial, essentially, but with specific bits thrown in for those interested. I take two sets of Hydrogen-Alpha and RGB exposures and create two separate HDR images. The RGB image is noise-reduced and blurred and the Luminance image is meticulously post-processed to bring up faint nebulosity, reduce noise and sharpen details. These are then LRGB combined and post-processing continues to produce a more polished result.

Enjoy!

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thank you for your efforts; I am looking at PI to see whether I can get on with it (or not ) and hopefully have accumulated enough data on HaRGB Rosette to have a go following your list - I probably won't be going down the HDR route however, a step too far for me!

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thank you for your efforts; I am looking at PI to see whether I can get on with it (or not ) and hopefully have accumulated enough data on HaRGB Rosette to have a go following your list - I probably won't be going down the HDR route however, a step too far for me!

Hehe, once you get the hang of PixInsight, you won't go back! Not to worry about having to require Ha data for my workflow. I do use Ha data as Luminance in the tutorial but really any Luminance data whatsoever follows the same procedure. You don't really need two or more sets of exposures for HDR for the Rosette Nebula but you can use the HDRMultiscaleTransform tool as I did if you like, to give your image a little touch of HDR. Mind you, some just prefer seeing the natural intensities so it's completely up to you.

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I've read through this and it's very comprehensive. I am a convert from PI to CS I have to say!! There's a couple of things I use PI for, but generally the lack of layer masks has prevented me from trying to get the best out of it. I like pretty pictures and I find it much easier to produce that in CS!

I do have a question though. When you combine the RGB data, why do you use pixelMath and not the simple combinechannel process?

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I've read through this and it's very comprehensive. I am a convert from PI to CS I have to say!! There's a couple of things I use PI for, but generally the lack of layer masks has prevented me from trying to get the best out of it. I like pretty pictures and I find it much easier to produce that in CS!

I do have a question though. When you combine the RGB data, why do you use pixelMath and not the simple combinechannel process?

Hehe, to each his own, I guess! I don't use layer masks at all anymore (I used to for HDR before I started using HDRComposition in PixInsight) so I only use Photoshop to create a frame for my images, to put my name, the object name, capture date and data used.

I don't have a specific reason for using PixelMath rather than CombineChannel to make my RGB image to be honest. PixelMath affords you extreme flexibility when it comes to expressions (e.g. for blending colours together for particular channels) but for a simple "this image is Red, this image is Green and this image is Blue", you can use CombineChannel all the same.